POKÉMON GO- REVIVING THE LOST INTEREST IN NATURE

2/19/2017 12:00:00 AM

Pokémon Go is a reality mobile game which permits users to capture, fight and train virtual creatures called Pokémon that appear on screen imitating the real world environment.

Within two months of its release, there were 500 million downloads of it. The current research wanted to analyze whether the game’s huge success can revive the lost interest of humankind in the natural world and its conservation.

They found that the Pokémon Go has been inspiring high degree of behavioral changes among its users. Users are adjusting their daily lives significantly to spend time outside to spot real creatures. Twitter evidence says that users often discover non-virtual ‘real’ wildlife species.

They also found that it has exposed them to the basic natural history concepts like habitats of different species, their variations, etc. Influenced by the game, hundreds of people gathered near the Central Park, New York, to spot a rare Vaporeon, one night.

The research concludes that people have an in-built affinity to nature, and have a desire to discover the natural world. If that is a reason why Pokémon Go got so popular, then that could be a great stimulation to conservation.